Chapter 30: Guild Quest
Chapter 30: Guild Quest
“…What did you say?”
Sara’s sharp gaze flew over and fixed on Guwon.
Hmph. But I'm not one to back down from a little glare.
“Wh-when our eyes meet, we f…”
“They haven't even noticed us, let alone made eye contact.”
Undeterred, I tried to continue, but Diana's sigh-laced voice interrupted me once again.
Dammit. This was easier when it was just Sara.
“Could you launch a preemptive strike before they notice us? Please, my ranged dealers.”
“Mm. Well done.”
When Guwon bowed his head and asked, Diana proudly patted his head.
Seeing this, Sara, who was watching from the side, hesitated for a moment before reaching out and patting his head as well.
“Sara?”
“A-ahem. Let’s just attack already.”
When Guwon looked up and stared at her, Sara blushed, quickly pulled her hand away, and nocked an arrow to her bowstring.
You too? Don't let this old lady who only looks young corrupt you.
Before I knew it, Diana was also tracing a magic circle in the air with her hands as if painting, firing a Mana Arrow at the same time Sara loosed her arrow.
As expected of an Archmage, she created and fired Magic Arrows at nearly the same speed Sara shot her arrows. Their power seemed equal to, if not greater than, Sara's arrows.
No, wait. In this case, isn't Sara the amazing one for firing arrows with nearly the same power as Diana's Magic Arrows, despite her archer level being so much lower?
In any case, it seemed goblins were monsters with stats focused on strength, just as they looked, and couldn't match the speed of the wolfdogs. They noticed us and tried to approach during Sara and Diana's coordinated attack, but in the end, all four of them collapsed, riddled with holes, before they could even get close.
“Hmm… I was a little nervous since this was my first time seeing them, but that felt a bit anticlimactic.”
“Tell me about it.”
“Well, of course. They were far beneath you, not to mention Sara and myself.”
I don't know about you, but Sara's archer level is definitely lower than theirs.
Though you wouldn't believe it seeing her attack power.
I approached the goblin corpse and used my Butchering skill to dig out the brightly glowing Magic Stone located near its heart. As I did, not only the corpse but also the weapon it had been holding vanished without a trace, leaving only a few pieces of leather on the ground.
“What the? I can understand the corpse disappearing, but why did the weapon vanish too?”
“Hmm. There have been various theories about that among us mages. The most mainstream theory is that the weapons used by monsters are assimilated with the monster's Magic Stone by the dungeon, and are thus treated as part of the monster's body.”
I guess if weapons and armor dropped intact all the time, the blacksmiths here would be out of a job.
A balance patch of sorts, huh.
“So you're saying there are cases where weapons do drop?”
“Mm. Of course. However, getting a weapon to drop intact is quite a rare occurrence on any floor.”
So it's like a rare drop.
Then again, even if one did drop, a goblin's weapon would probably be useless anyway.
For now, I shouldn't worry about drops and just focus on mapping the area.
After collecting all the drops, we walked for a bit and, once again, ran into a group of goblins.
Where the hell did all the wolfdogs go?
Anyway, unlike the last group which was just milling about, these ones seemed to be on patrol, looking around. The moment we came into view, they noticed us and rushed over.
“Alright! Le—”
“That’s enough.”
Fwish!
Before Guwon could even finish his sentence, Sara had already fired an arrow.
Sara, Sara. Why did you grow up to be so boring? You're making your big brother sad.
This time, there were only five goblins at most.
They'll probably be taken care of before they get close, just like the last ones.
Guwon could only watch Sara and Diana attack relentlessly, with nothing to do but cheer from the sidelines.
Is this what it feels like to be one of those fence-sitters, munching on popcorn while everyone else is fighting their guts out?
No, that's not it. I'm just so overpowered that I don't need to step in. That's completely different from being a fence-sitter.
“Go, team, go! Go, team, go!”
As I was letting my guard down and humming some song from who-knows-when, something suddenly flew past the edge of my vision.
“Gah! What the hell! You scared me.”
It was aimed at Sara, not me, but I was the one who jumped in surprise, even more so than Sara, who had sidestepped it naturally. Thanks to my overwhelming physical abilities, I managed to reflexively snatch the object out of the air, which at least saved me some embarrassment.
Not that it stopped Sara and Diana from giving me pathetic looks.
The object in my hand was just an ordinary stone.
Huh? What's this? A simple stone throw was that powerful?
I quickly looked ahead and saw one goblin behind the ones mindlessly charging forward, swinging something around and around. A sling?
This time, the creature launched a stone from its sling toward me.
“Watch out!”
“Don't worry. I can handle this much.”
Guwon spoke with a calm smile, as if he hadn't just jumped out of his skin a moment ago.
For the Guwon of yesterday, it would have been a powerful enough attack that dodging would have been better than blocking. But thanks to my power-leveling, I could easily block it as long as I wasn't caught off guard.
“Wow. They know how to use those things?”
“Hmm. Don't be too careless. It's best to assume that any creature that uses a weapon is capable of a ranged attack.”
Even as she said that, Diana didn't seem particularly wary.
Was it the composure of an Archmage? Or was the attack really not that threatening?
Still, she must have found it annoying, because she focused her Magic Arrows on the one with the sling.
Still, that sling attack itself seems pretty decent.
I wonder if that sling will drop.
Should I try throwing a stone with my bare hands?
It's primitive, but combined with my physical abilities, wouldn't it be powerful enough?
Guwon raised his leg high like a pitcher on a mound, took his stance, and was about to throw the stone with all his might when he froze.
Wait. If the stone I throw blows that goblin's head to bits, I'll have nothing to say to Sara, will I?
I sent Sara away yesterday with that excuse. Imagine if I told her I actually leveled up by having sex with Diana. I'm scared to even imagine what she'd do.
Guwon gave up on attacking and decided to focus solely on defense.
“Alright. I'll block all the ranged attacks! You two focus on offense!”
“Already taken care of.”
“Go, team, go! Go, team, go!”
The one with the sling was already lying face-down on the ground.
I guess I'll just stick to cheering.
Maybe I should buy some popcorn tomorrow. Though I have no idea if they actually sell popcorn here.
In the end, these ones were also dealt with before they got close, and the long-awaited butchering time arrived.
Guwon knelt before the corpse of the sling-wielding goblin, clasped his hands together, and prayed earnestly.
Drop! Sling!
“What are you doing?”
“Can't you tell? I'm praying. Where I'm from, there's a saying: If you want something badly enough, the universe will…”
“Haa… Stop with the nonsense and just get to carving.”
“That's right. Our goal today is to cover more ground than anyone else. Did you forget?”
Tch. Fine. I never actually believed that saying anyway.
Did you two really have to gang up on me like that?
Urged on by Diana and Sara, I immediately carved out the Magic Stone, but of course, an item wasn't going to drop just because I wanted it to.
The only drops were a few pieces of leather and a single club that had been held by one of the idiots who charged head-on.
“Hoh. First that Transcendent Species yesterday, and now this. You really do have good luck.”
Good luck? What's so good about it? This item is useless.
The Martial Artist job is fundamentally designed for unarmed combat, so all its passive and active skills are based on bare-handed attacks.
If I wield a crappy club like this, I won't get the Martial Artist job effects, and my attack power might actually end up being lower than if I just used my fists.
“Sigh. Let's just get back to mapping the area.”
“Hmm. You're not drawing anything. Are you sure you'll be alright?”
“I told you not to worry. Sara here can vouch for my sense of direction. I haven't gotten us lost once. Right?”
“Now that you mention it… I was so focused on leveling up that I didn't notice, but that's true.”
“Hmm. If Sara says so, then I suppose I can trust you.”
How did my credibility sink this low?
Alright. Since it's come to this, I'll have to show them the dignity of a party leader in the next battle.
Not long after making that resolution, the sound of fighting reached Guwon's ears.
Another party of adventurers?
It's a basic rule in the dungeon not to interfere in another party's fight.
If you mess with a monster someone else is fighting, it just gets complicated with issues over who owns the drops.
It'll be a pain if we get involved. Should we turn back?
But listening closely, I couldn't hear the clash of weapons you'd expect from an adventurer's battle.
This is where Sara comes in.
With her Hunter and Archer jobs, Sara's sight and hearing are sharper than mine, as if she has related skills.
“Sara, do you hear that?”
“Yes. It sounds like… wolfdogs and goblins fighting.”
Sure enough, as we got closer, I could hear dogs barking and a guttural, inhuman roar that could never be mistaken for a person's voice.
So monsters fight each other, too.
Even if this world resembles a game, reality is still reality. The differences show in moments like this.
When we got close enough to see, sure enough, a pack of wolfdogs and a group of goblins were brawling with each other.
There were three male wolfdogs and two females. The goblins also numbered five.
It seemed a balance was being maintained, with the goblins being slightly stronger than the male wolfdogs but weaker than the females.
They were so focused on each other that they hadn't noticed us yet.
“Alright. Let's launch a surprise attack. I'll handle the wolfdogs. You take care of the goblins first.”
Guwon quickly charged toward the wolfdogs.
Of course, I can't let Sara find out about my sudden level jump, so I have no intention of attacking with my full strength.
I'll just draw their aggro and let them hit me a bit.
With that in mind, Guwon activated his Saint's skill and lightly tapped the nearest male wolfdog.
Kiyiiing!
“Aaaargh! Shit!”
Ah! I forgot! Saint's Touch leveled up!
The moment Guwon's hand touched it, the wolfdog began to twist its body wildly, spraying white fluid from its privates.
Guwon felt as if time had stopped. He saw the white liquid flying toward his body in slow motion.
This is no time to worry about my level-up being discovered. Now is the time to reveal my true power!
More desperately than ever before, Guwon unleashed 120% of his physical abilities and barely managed to dodge the liquid scattering in all directions.
Fuck. I almost got bukkake'd by a goddamn dog.
The one Guwon had attacked was still lost in the afterglow of its climax, collapsed on the ground and trembling uncontrollably.
It was this powerful?
Now I understand why Diana passed out yesterday. It's a miracle she had the presence of mind to refuse the mana contract.
Guwon stared at his own hand and shuddered.
Seemingly shocked by what had happened to the one Guwon attacked, both the wolfdogs and the goblins stopped fighting each other and took a wary stance against him.
It's definitely an OP level of power, but…
Do I really have to keep using this?
Before Guwon had a chance to ponder, arrows and Magic Arrows flew past him from behind, forcibly restarting the battle.
Goddammit!
As the monsters, now aggroed by Sara and Diana, charged, Guwon reflexively landed a punch imbued with Saint's Touch on each of them.
It made no difference whether they were wolfdogs or goblins; a single punch from Guwon made their legs give out, and they all collapsed, leaking fluid from their lower halves.
If there was any silver lining, was it that the goblins were wearing dirty loincloths, making them less likely to spray than the wolfdogs?
Of course, that didn't compensate for the mental damage I was taking.
I thought I had just barely gotten over fighting while looking at their erections, and now I have to fight monsters that spray their jizz everywhere.
This time, it wasn't just visual terrorism; a new fear washed over me—the fear that if I let my guard down for even a second, I could get splattered.
As Guwon landed one punch after another on the monsters, he wept internally at a reality too cruel to bear.